Uryuu and Chad watched Moll sleep on the bed of the cell the three of them shared
Both of them had gigantic expressions of shock on their faces as they glanced at each other, seemingly in disbelief
The reason?
Moll was asleep, and snoring like a jet engine
"Is she supposed to sound like that?" Uryuu wondered out loud
Chad shrugged, his expression
Then they realized it wasn't Moll's snoring, but the sounds were coming from outside
"What could that possibly be?" Uryuu asked
The rumbling reached a climax and the roof literally exploded as something burst through it, showering Chad, Uryuu and a now awoken Moll with dust
When the cloud cleared the trio was surprised to see a Shinigami captain standing there, looking down at them, his expression could only be described as scary as all hell
They stared at each other for a moment, until a head poked up over Kenpachi's shoulder covered in auburn hair and seemingly none the worse for wear
"Ishida-kun! Sado-Kun, Rayner-san!" she exclaimed in relief "Thank goodness you're all okay!"
"ORIHIME?!" The three shouted in a surprised unison
"Well, we're off" Renji said, as he and Joel finished bandaging themselves, though there were still clear minor cuts and bruises apparent on both of them
"Yeah" Ichigo replied, although he was not looking in their direction at all, completely focused on his own training, which had seemingly yet to finish
He looked completely messed up, blood was streaming from dozens of open wounds, and his face and clothes were caked with blood that had long since dried earlier in the training
Ichigo leapt back into training and Renji turned to Yoruichi
"Yoruichi-san… do you think they can make it?" he asked "Bankai isn't something someone can just acquire in three days…just ask Joel here, he didn't even come close"
"That's cold Renji" Joel shot back "Real cold"
"Who Knows?" Yoruichi replied calmly, not really paying much attention to the two of them
"Oi!" Renji tried attracting her attention
"Do you remember when you first learned to walk?" She continued, still watching Ichigo and Layne train as hard as they possibly could, fighting their zanpakuto spirits in what was beginning to look more like a battle to the death than a sparring session
"How in hell would I remember something like that?" Renji asked angrily "That was forever ago"
"If you don't remember it, how can you still walk?" she asked flatly
"…"
"People are born with the ability to walk, birds can fly and fish can swim, it's called instinct, and because they instinctively know that they are able to do it, they don't think twice about trying it"
"…"
"The look on Ichigo's face reminds me of instinct, and thus I believe that he will acquire Bankai"
"What about Layne though, can he do it or is he just wasting his time?"
"Look for yourself" She gestured out towards Layne, who had just been thrown backwards into the side of a cliff, but picked himself back up and went right back to it "Does that look like Layne is about to give up?"
Joel shook his head "No… it doesn't look like any expression I've ever seen on Layne's face"
"I don't think there's another being in existence that knows Layne better than you, so you tell me, Joel Bluzer… do you think he's capable of achieving Bankai?"
"You know a simple yes would have sufficed" Joel said, completely deadpan
Yoruichi kicked him in the face
And so Renji dragged a semi conscious Joel out of the cave with him, after laughing his ass off at Joel's misfortune, the reality of having to drag Joel had set in and he was soon muttering terrible things about Joel and his weight
After Renji had been walking for a bit Joel seemed to regain full control of his facilities
"Oi Renji, I thought of something that I should go get done"
"How long have you been conscious?" Renji asked, frowning suspiciously
"A while…why?"
"…"
"Anyway, I figure I should go find the rest of the Ryoka, we may need to make a quick escape with everyone intact"
"That's a good idea"
"Catchya then"
Joel extricated himself from Renji's grip, stood up and flashstepped away
Joel tracked one of the Ryoka's reiatsu signatures to a demolished corridor in a remote area of the Seireitei
He looked around in surprise at the scene before him "Whoa, what the shit happened here?"
The place was messed up, there was some gross purple gas cloud in the air and the bricks looked liked they'd been ripped out of existence by some unnatural force, not like they were melted or smashed, but if they'd been… deconstructed at their base level
The reiatsu trail felt like it ended a few metres away, so either the Ryoka was slowly making it away, or Joel would find his corpse.
He sincerely hoped for the former
Deciding to walk because he didn't want to waste the energy required for a flashstep since the area he was going to was so close anyway
Good thing he did or he would have missed Nemu, who was lying against a wall clutching her gut, her expression betraying her obvious pain
"Nemu!" Joel shouted his concern
Dammit I left her alone for one day, and this happened!
He rushed over and knelt down at her, and she smiled weakly as she recognized him
"What the hell happened here?" he asked her, gently lifting her arms to check on her wound
"Mayuri-sama, and a Ryoka"
Joel grimaced, if Captain Kurotsuchi had gotten to one of the Ryoka the chance of that Ryoka still being alive after a fight's conclusion was slim… but Joel had to find the truth anyway
"Who won?"
"Neither, Mayuri-sama was forced to liquefy himself and retreat, and the Ryoka's final technique very likely caused him to lose his control over reishi"
"He won't be very much help then" Joel cursed the air, before tending to Nemu's wound as best he could, He was no medic but he knew enough to know to apply a dressing
"Can you walk?" he asked her, after thinking for a while about what he should do next
Nemu shook her head slowly
"Aight" he said calmly, before scooping her up and throwing her over his back in a piggyback
Nemu glowed inwardly that he was taking care of her
"I'm going to be honest here… I'm doing something that could get me executed…I'm going up against the Soul Society here, Nemu, You're injured and need medical attention, and you won't be pulled into this"
"No" she said flatly
"What?" Joel replied incredulously
"I would prefer to stay with you" she said, and while her tone didn't change, Joel got the feeling that if he fought against this he'd be in a lot of trouble
"Oh…ok then"
Joel focused on another unfamiliar reiatsu and headed in that direction
He came upon seven figures, with Captain Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Orihime, Chad, Uryuu and Moll all headed towards the centre of the Seireitei… but away from the Sokyoku Hill, which Joel found odd
"Oi!" he shouted after them "Wait up!"
The group stopped and turned around, Uryuu and Orihime flinching at the sight of Nemu on his back
Moll's face crossed from angry, the sad, to angry again and finally settled for a neutral that Layne would have been proud of
Joel opened his mouth to say something to Moll… but couldn't think of anything appropriate, so turned to Kenpachi instead
"Uhh Captain Kenpachi, why are you headed this way? The Sokyoku Hill is completely in the other direction"
"See I told you this is what happens when we let the Lieutenant… AKK"
Yachiru attached herself to Ikkaku's head and he shut up
"Why should we listen to you?" Kenpachi asked
"Ichigo and Layne are headed to the Sokyoku Hill to stop the execution"
Kenpachi started running and everyone moved to follow him
"Hold on" Joel quickly said, catching Orihime's arm
"I hear you have the power to heal, can you help Nemu out?"
He set Nemu down and Orihime began to heal her
Moll approached him
"Hey…Moll" he greeted "It's really good to see you"
"Don't give me that shit" Moll growled back at him
She gave him a bone shattering slap, and the four of them didn't move on until Orihime had healed his cheek
"That's for making me cry"
"Another dead end?!" Moll exclaimed
"It's quite normal to run into a dead end every five minutes" Orihime said cheerfully,
"It was with Yachiru leading, but we switched guides" Moll replied, frowning at turning to Joel, her tone suspicious
Joel started sweating profusely at this
"Could it be, Joel" she began, giving him a piercing stare "That your directional sense is worse than Kenpachi's and Yachiru's?"
"It's uhh…it's certainly possible" he admitted "The Sokyoku Hill is still this direction though"
Joel was pointing out the large outline of the hill in the distance when a flicker of reiatsu flickered over him and he was silent, looking around for it's source
"Captain" Ikkaku suddenly said
"Yeah, I sense them too" Kenpachi growled
Kenpachi spat, "Come out cowards, hiding your reiatsu's and stalking isn't something captains should do"
Six figures appeared in front of them, Captains Tousen and Komamura, Lieutenants Hisagi and Iba and two other that Joel and Moll seemed to recognize
"Do you know what exactly it is you do, Zaraki? Taking the Ryoka… was your brain so addled in the fight you lost?" Captain Tousen said
"Christ" Joel muttered "Not him too"
"What are you talking about?" Moll asked, "We got numerical superiority"
"…"
"And if you're talking about those two, I knew at least one of them was here"
"Yeah… Layne told me about her… but not about him"
"I didn't know either; Layne kicked her ass outside this huge tower…"
Joel growled and returned his attention to the people in front of them
"Six of you?" Kenpachi scoffed "That won't even be enough to test my sword arm with"
"Ken-chaaaan, we'll keep going and look for Ichi" Yachiru announced "Come on, Big Booby, Mr Pencil, Big Bear, Bluey and Molly, Baldy, and Peacock Brow"
Everyone except Kenpachi bailed from the area, leaving him alone with six adversaries and a maniacal grin on his face
"Six on one you say" Captain Komamura repeated "I know of your strength, but you are far too arrogant"
"I believe, you have not only lost your pride, but apparently your common sense too, Zaraki" Tousen added, slowly unsheathing his zanpakuto
"Chh" Kenpachi spat, "I don't recall ever having a worthless thing like common sense"
"Captain" Hisagi said as He, Iba and the two third seats walked forwards "Please let us go first"
"I knew you lot looked down on me" Kenpachi growled
"In that case, I guess we just have to go first for our side, right Captain?" Ikkaku said slyly, appearing from nowhere with, Joel, Yumichika and Moll behind him
"A third seat, a fifth seat, a lieutenant, and a ryoka against two lieutenants and two third seats?" Iba scoffed "It seems that your mouth has got even louder, Ikkaku"
"Talk later; I don't want to get chopped up by my captain"
Ikkaku and Iba flashstepped off
"I agree, do you mind if we move to a more beautiful location" Yumichika asked lazily
"It doesn't really matter" Hisagi replied as he and Yumichika both flashstepped off
Leaving Joel, Moll, Kenpachi, The two third seats and Captain's Tousen and Komamura
"You're in the way, Move!" Kenpachi complained
"Why'd you turn around and come back Joel" Moll muttered to him "You should go ahead and help Layne, all the strongest guys are where he'll be"
Joel flashed her a small smile, recalling his fight with Layne and admitting something to himself that he'd been unwilling to stomach
"Layne is far too strong to need my help"
He flashstepped a large distance away, to where he felt there would be no interruptions to his fight, and sensed the reiatsu of the one who had followed him
"Long time, no see, Little Bro" the man mocked, swinging his massive zanpakuto over his shoulder
"Jed, you piece of shit" Joel growled "Of course it was you… it's always you"
"How's that bitch, you banged her yet?" he continued blithely, ignoring what Joel was saying completely
"Let's cut the shit" Joel shot back "I don't care why or how, but you and that damned bitch Anita are here, and in my way, you have a habit of turning up wherever I need you the least"
Jed chuckled, "Just taking care of my stupid little brother, y'know?"
Joel rolled up the sleeve of his Shihakusho to reveal some ugly scars in the shape of the initials J.B
"And mum always believed you until I showed her these" he said hatefully "Cutting your initials into my arm, what the fuck is wrong with you"
Jed twitched at the memory "Best way to dish out some discipline is through physical pain"
"I'll fucking give you some physical pain"
"Haiiii Rayner, you look like shit, can't handle the Seireitei well?" Anita greeted Moll snidely, as if this was some playground confrontation
"Sup whore"
"Bitch"
Moll thought for a second
"You know, it doesn't matter what I call you, and it doesn't matter what you call me, because the last time I saw you, Layne had applied the ultra beatdown"
Anita growled but didn't reply
"That's what I fucking thought"
"You shouldn't count on Layne to save you now,"
"Why would I? I fight my own battles… unlike you…Rise Inside, Sora!"
Moll's daito disappeared in a flash of white light and was replaced with a silver keyblade with a golden hilt, and she grasped it with both hands and took a combat stance
"I've wanted a chance to do something like this for a long time; it's not even my birthday" Moll said, a small smile playing across her face
"Pulling out the Shikai so early? Very well, Make her fear the darkness, Kagetsuki!"
Joel and Jed sprang apart, breathing heavily from the repeated clashes
"I don't like this Joel at all, what happened to the little bitch with no self esteem, who apologized for everything even though he got angry all the time... I really preferred him" Jed taunted
"You would, though you were always the type that had to make himself be known, and take credit for everything, so it was pretty simple to push off most of the actual shit I did onto you"
They jumped back together and exchanged blows for a few more seconds than leapt backwards as Joel landed a small scratch on Jed's face
"FINALLY!"
"Whoa, calm the farm, it's a fight, I'm supposed to try and hurt you"
"This is getting real nice Joel, don't you feel the air heating up because of the simple reasons we have for fighting each other?"
"You're in the way, that's all the reason I need"
"Don't give me that, if you're only doing this for some fucked up reason like Duty, or Honour then you're going to die here, because I, honest to whatever serves as a deity for this place, want to kill you, and smear your blood from here to that test freak of Kurotsuchi's"
"What's Nemu got to do with this?"
"She's obsessed with your dumb ass, insofar as an emotionless freak like her is capable of feeling lust"
"Leave her out of this; this is between you and me!"
"Maybe I'll have a little fun with all those worthless pieces of shit you call friends before I kill them"
Joel flashstepped behind Jed and sliced up his arm, making Jed's shihakusho sleeveless and drawing blood
"You're right Jed; you are going to die here, so you don't insult my friends ever again!"
"That's more like it! Demolish! Feure Tyrann!" Joel shouted, and his oversized katana morphed into a type of spear that Joel recognized from his ancient history classes, A Guan Dao, a Chinese spear that had a point, blade and bladecatcher all in one
"You always were more obsessed with size, than substance" Joel remarked as he observed the Shikai release
A pillar of flame appeared next to Joel, surprising him and burning his arm before he could move away
"Ow fuck, a fire type, wish Layne was here, but I suppose that Riku will have a similar effect" Joel quickly said, as he dodged more pillars of fire
"Layne this, Layne that, why don't you fucking get it!? He's not going to save you!" Jed shouted, thrusting his zanpakuto at Joel
Joel grinned as he brought Riku around to deflect the clumsy strike "He doesn't need it, Make your Choice! Riku!"
Joel ran his hand along Riku's blade, and it morphed from its sealed katana form into a the red and blue batwing that was it's Shikai
"Come on Jed, let's dance"
Up on the Sokyoku Hill the procession that was leading Rukia had finally reached the Sokyoku platform,
Soifon looked around in disdain "The attendance is horrible," She thought to herself, "Only the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 8th are here, I didn't expect the 5th, 11th or 12th, but what are all the others doing?"
She caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Byakuya Kuchiki making his way towards the stand
"Onii-sama" Rukia breathed, shocked to see him there
The Captain-Commander's cane striking the hard surface of the stand brought her attention back to Rukia
"Rukia Kuchiki, do you have any last words?" The captain-commander spoke slowly, his gruff voice making his words hard to hear
"There is one thing" Rukia replied, here serene expression and calm words a stark contrast to the turmoil going on inside her heart
"Could you, send all the Ryoka back to where they came from and forgive anyone who aided them...because they foolishly thought I was worth saving, and their lives are worth much more than mine"
"As you request" Yamamoto replied
"How cruel," Isane whispered to Unohana, "He says such things even though he had no intention of fulfilling it"
"It is not cruelty" Unohana replied, "Her death is unavoidable and it is far better to die with her heart set at ease"
"Release the seal" Yamamoto ordered, and three cubes rose up and lifted Rukia into the air,
"Hearing that Ichigo and the others will all be sent back home after all this is done has set my heart at ease again" Rukia thought with a hint of relief
The great Sokyoku spear became engulfed in flame, and started shifting shape, into a blazing phoenix that seemed to be staring at Rukia, it's expression malicious, like it was looking to claim it's next victim
"Whats the matter Joel!" Jed cried out as another of his flame pillar's missed "You're just running like a little bitch, Stand still so I can hit you! You're too late to make to the execution, so all that's left is our fight!"
"Shit, they've started the execution and I'm wrapped up here with this dickhead" Joel thought to himself as he ducked and more fire passed harmlessly over his head "Magnetize won't stop the fire... and I'm completely on the defensive, He hasn't given me a single opening to counterattack… I might have to take a gambit… "
While he was thinking Jed flashstepped in front and thrust Feure Tyrann forward, in an attempt to impale Joel as he ran around
"If you don't stay focused on the fight Joel, you aren't even going to scratch me" Jed said with a grin, lapping up a little of the blood from a cut on his forehead
Joel grinned; this was an opening, one that could be exploited
"Magnetize!"
Using the reiatsu shield he formed on his Left arm, he bounced Jed's Feure Tyrann away and leapt forwards, grunting in pain as the fire from Fuere Tyrann scorched his left arm
"It's over! Earth's Power: Formation!"
Joel leapt up into the air and somersaulted forwards, a tail of rock and dirt following the arc of his sword
"See ya" Joel quipped as the entire tail, crushed Jed, smothering his fire completely
Joel landed smoothly and started walking towards the Sokyoku Hill, ignoring the corpse behind him when he felt an unnatural reiatsu rise
"What the?"
He turned quickly to see Jed picking himself out of the earth, looking pretty beaten up, with his clothes in ruins and bleeding heavily
"Haah, congrats Joel, I didn't think I was going to need to use this"
"Need to use what..."
Jed retrieved Fuere Tyrann and stuck into into the mound of earth, while holding onto it
"I hope you're prepared to die Joel, because the last thing you are going to feel is the engulfing flames of my zanpakuto"
Joel brought the Soul Eater up in a defensive stance, seemingly prepared for whatever could come
But he wasn't prepared for what was happening
Jed's raw energy was tearing chunks off the walls and slowly digging a crater into the ground
"You ready for this? Joel?"
Joel wasn't, but he'd be damned before he let Jed know it
"Bring it"
Jed picked up Feure Tyrann and started spinning it around
"Bankai!"
Bankai? Like a Renji? Like a Captain!?
An explosion of raw reiatsu blasted Joel away into one of the still intact walls, and as he picked himself up he tried to catch a glimpse of Jed's power but the smoke was too thick to make out anything
The smoke cleared and Jed stood there, the single Guan Dao having been replaced by two, that were roughly half the size of the original, one in each hand, and both were on fire
"Tobend Feure Tyrann"
"So this is a Bankai" Joel muttered to himself, aghast, how could Jed have a Bankai!
Intense heat seared Joel's face as he moved his head back to avoid a cheap shot from Jed
"That's freakin hot" Joel exclaimed loudly, his face had been at least ten feet away from the blade during the dodge, but it felt like flames were still lapping at his face, even the air around them was beginning to resemble a heat haze
"My Bankai might actually be too hot," Jed said regretfully "When it makes contact it instantly cauterizes the wounds"
"Heh, so any hit you make seals instantly, that's a point in my favour"
Jed ran the blade of one of his guan dao's across some of the open wounds he sustained in Joel's attack, instantly sealing them
"So far all you've done is stopped your bleeding, and turned up the temperature, is this really the best you've got" Joel taunted, attempting to elicit an angered reaction, realizing that he needed to keep Jed off balance or he was going to be overwhelmed
"Shut. The. Fuck. Up. And. Just. Die." Jed replied through gritted teeth, and with more exuberance he shouted "First Hit! Blaze!"
A stream of fire moved along the ground towards Joel and he sidestepped it
"Second Hit!, Inferno" Fire surrounded Joel, rendering him unable to move, for fear of burning himself, and the fire from the first hit turned around and started heading towards the fire cage
"Third Hit, Incinerate!"
Flames began spewing forth from the tips of Jed's Guan Dao's aimed directly at the cage of fire that Joel was trapped in
"Burn you bastard!" Jed shouted
It's time Joel… to make your choice
Joel looked around, but he couldn't see a thing, wherever he was, it was completely absent of light, like a void… but Joel had been here once before
"Hello?! Riku?!" he called out "I don't have time for this, I'm about to be a fried Shinigami, with extra hot sauce"
That is up to you
"What are you talking about? Don't give me the cryptic nonsense"
Make your choice Joel…
"Make what choice! Don't give me that cryptic bullshit!"
Do you choose the road to light, or the road to darkness?
A blinding light appeared, forcing Joel to screw his eyes shut and turn his head away until his eyes could adjust, strangely however, the light didn't illuminate the area
As he viewed the light he was overcome with images of his friends, in the life he'd used to lead, where it was carefree and simple, living with Layne and Moll in a house, but he'd been ignorant, arrogant and unwilling to stand on his own
Whereas in the darkness, his heart had hardened, he'd met Renji and Nemu, and fought with Layne… and had his notions of the world shattered completely
Joel looked left at the light, and right at the rest of the darkness… and he made his choice
"I choose… neither"
The twilight road to nightfall?
"No… It's the Way to the Dawn"
Jed kept up the stream of fire until he was quite sure that the only thing left of Joel would be charred remains
"Too hot for you Joel?" Jed said mockingly, as the fire cage dissipated
The rocks that Joel had summoned around him retracted back into the ground
"That was really close, good thing I still had this up my sleeve," Joel mused to himself
"How in the blazing hells did you survive that!" Jed shouted at him, enraged that Joel was somehow still alive
Joel turned and looked directly at him and it was then that Jed noticed how Joel's appearance had changed
He was now wearing a blindfold, made of black cloth and the zanpakuto had gone from the Soul Eater, to something else entirely
It still retained the basic look of the Soul Eater, though the back of the blade was now straight and had a small white wing protruding from the back near the tip, the handle now had a circular guard and overall Jed thought it resembled one of Layne's keyblades in shape more than Joel's Shikai
"Looks cool doesn't it," Joel asked, noticing Jed's gaze
"I forgot to mention it, but I guess this is my Bankai" Joel continued
"What?"
"Riku's Path: Way to the Dawn"
"Impossible"
"Can't be, you're staring at it"
"No!"
Jed was raging pretty hard
"I fucking refuse to acceot, that you can have the same kind of power as me!" he shouted
Joel shrugged "Then don't, just accept that my power is greater than yours"
"Earth's Power, Quake!"
Joel slammed Way to the Dawn into the ground and stared at the hilt, seemingly focused
"What the fuck is this" Jed snarled "All you can do with your Bankai is stick holes in the ground?"
Joel grinned, "This is finished"
Rocky spikes shot out of the ground, impaling Jed in several places
"The earth has a ton of surprises, doesn't it?" Joel said bitterly "It's like how the Lieutenant of 13th division doesn't even know his older brother is the 3rd seat of 7th division until said brother tries to kill him, or is that example too topical, maybe you had to be there"
"You should survive this before you say that" a new voice said behind him
Joel blanched, another fight? so soon?
"Mutilate, Plagado"
Joel didn't know what hit him
The shadowy figure made sure to tread on Joel as he walked over him
"I wasn't expecting you to possess Bankai, but you went down easily enough anyway"
The figure picked Jed up, and after a moment's paused, picked up Joel too and flashstepped off